1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a histamine measuring apparatus and a histamine measuring method for quantitatively measuring histamine present in blood or mast cell suspensions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A histamine releasing test is a quantitative analysis of histamine extracellularly released by stimulating leukocytes (white blood cells) in the blood or mast cells in the mucosa and promoting releasing histamine contained therein outside the cells. The histamine release test has been reported to be a method useful in identifying some allergens in some allergic disorders and diseases (c.f., Prior Art 1: Tabe, kazuaki: histamine release test--diagnosis of allergies, SRL HOKAN, vol. 21, pp. 17-22 (1997).
The known measurements of freed histamine (histamine released in free state) includes, for example, a method using fluorescent HPLC (fluorescent high performance liquid chromatography) to purify the histamine to react it with a fluorescent reagent in order to measure the amount of fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent reagent reacted with the histamine (c.f., Prior Art 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H6-331619), a method using glass fibers to purify the freed histamine to react it with a fluorescent reagent in order to measure the amount of fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent reagent coupled with the free histamine (c.f., Prior Art 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-170514, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-62415), competitive immunoassays commercially available from ICN Pharmaceuticals or Immunotech, and an ELISA (c.f., Prior Art 4).